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How to reduce WoW Lag

Submitted by Arannar on Fri, 2009-02-20 00:38

I. Introduction

WoW Lag got you down? Can't finish your quest because of lag, always getting killed in battlegrounds because of lag? Then this guide is for you! This guide will help you to identify the problem that is causing you to lag.

Meet the Requirements

Of course your system has to meet the requirements to run WoW, which are as follows:

Controls: A keyboard and mouse are required. Input devices other than a mouse and keyboard are not supported.Connectivity: You must have an active broadband Internet connection to play.Mouse: Multi-button mouse with scroll wheel recommended.Hard Drive Space: 15 GB free hard drive space

Please check if you meet these requirements if you don't know how to check: Start> Run> DxDiag

III. Finding and Solving The Problem

The lag can either be caused by high latency (300ms+) or a low framerate (15 and below) .

To reduce your latency read this:
1. Stop any downloads or videos running while playing WoW.
2. Reduce the amount of programs running while playing WoW.
3. Change your ISP.
4. Edit the Registry:Start>Run>RegEdit
Search for:
"HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\Interfaces\"
Search through the keys (should be folders with random numbers on it) and find out which one is your network connection, you will know because it will have your Local IP Address in it. (a guide to finding it is found at http://www.bobborst.com/tools/whatsmyip/)
When you've found it create a new REG_DWORD key called "TcpAckFrequency" and set the value to 1.
Restart you computer.
Refer to http://forum.games.exetel.com.au/showthread.php?t=475 for more information.Note: This might* decrease your internet download speed.
*I've tried this and it hasn't but I don't really know about others.

Also, when you tell how to decrease the latency, you'd want to prevent the users how this can affect their overall internet usage (like decreased download speed in the browser and so on..) Also, there are a couple of more tips on how to increase the latency in the original.. See here for details: http://forum.games.exetel.com.au/showthread.php?t=475